Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

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Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

golden bubble posted:

Even extreme eurogrogs can be allured by theme. Even in this tread, people were willing to give Dead of Winter a third shot in hopes of finally getting a good and accessible zombie-themed game.

Tiny Epic Zombies pulls off the theme pretty well in my opinion. It's what Defenders should have been like, apart from possibly zooming around a shopping mall on a motorbike.

The Tiny Epic series has a bad rep here, but the last three (Zombies, Mechs, Tactics) have been the best after Galaxies.

# ? Mar 23, 2020 15:27

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# ? May 26, 2024 02:28

Chill la Chill: Jul 2, 2007; Don't lose your gay

Reskinned antiquity would be the perfect zombie game. Much of the zombie genre, as games (not necessarily as art, as I'd say they have different purposes) is to manage the logistics of a dwindling supply and group of people. There are plenty of games that follow the action movie version, but oppressive games where all players might lose is a neglected aspect of the zombie game genre.

# ? Mar 23, 2020 16:00

Bellmaker: Oct 18, 2008; Chapter DOOF

I mean I enjoy Rajas of the Ganges with the expansions (it�s on Yucat� too!) but I�m not gonna defend it as the pinnacle of gaming

Russian/German/American Railroads, however... :getin:

# ? Mar 23, 2020 18:51

Fate Accomplice: Nov 30, 2006

Bellmaker posted:

I mean I enjoy Rajas of the Ganges with the expansions (it�s on Yucat� too!) but I�m not gonna defend it as the pinnacle of gaming

Russian/German/American Railroads, however...

Flea market two weeks ago:

Pristine in box German railroads: $20

Pristine RR+German+American in RR box: $40

# ? Mar 23, 2020 18:54

Rad Valtar: May 31, 2011; Someday coach Im going to throw for 6 TDs in the Super Bowl.

Sit your ass down Steve.

Looks like both TTA and Galaxy Trucker are half off on iOS and Android and the 100% of the proceeds go to the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Don�t know what the charity is exactly but TTA for $5 and Galaxy Trucker for $2 seems like great deals.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 00:09

hoiyes: May 17, 2007

golden bubble posted:

finally getting a good and accessible zombie-themed game.

Saying this like City of Horror doesn't exist smdh

# ? Mar 24, 2020 02:30

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

Speaking of quarantine games, let's talk about Spirit Island: Jagged Earth. The game will include ten spirits, plus two more in the second promo pack. So far, ten of these have appeared in various print-and-plays.

Shifting Memory of Ages: this spirit is seemingly designed to start getting and using Major Powers immediately.
This BGG user has put together a collection of the following spirits:

Starlight Seeks Its Form: a new spirit recently fallen to earth; in other words, it's a build-your-own-spirit that's good at acquiring cards and elements, so as to define itself. I strongly recommend you assemble the element tokens as well.
Downpour Drenches the World: a weird spirit that's good at delaying and clogging up the whole map, until its ready for a mega-turn where it just spams out a single ability in like five different spaces.
Vengeance as a Burning Plague: disease everywhere, of course. Plays oddly, in that it benefits from just letting the invaders build up on diseased areas, so as to generate big fear. Also has some abilities that proc based on destroyed presence; I get the impression the designers want players to be more willing to take hits.
Stone's Unyielding Defiance: Vital Strength's cousin; instead of preventing damage, this spirit prevents the negative side-effects of Blight. A good partner for spirits that can use blight offensively, I guess.
Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble: great at causing Strife; has a fun ability where it draws a random card and applies the effects-- whatever they may be-- to a land. Note that you have to choose the land before you start drawing cards; the wording on the board does not make this clear.

Lure of the Deep Wilderness: the anti-Ocean; this spirit turns buildings into explorers, and then drags them into the interior, where they sit and stew in a growing hell of wilds, beasts, and badlands. Quite decent vs France.
This doc contains the following:

Finder of Paths Unseen: the pacifist spirit, whose abilities are all about moving units around and controlling adjacency. Better on the higher playercounts, where range is more important.
Many Minds Move as One: like Sharp Fangs, but actually fun. This spirit lets you build up enormous piles of beasts and deathstack your way around the map. We've actually run out of beast tokens playing this thing.
Volcano Looming High: gameplay is based around building up a ton of presence in a small area, then intentionally destroying it all to annihilate the invaders. The player has to trade between a medium-sized eruption now, and a big eruption later.
This link also has earlier versions of Vengeance and Trickster, but they're both rather OP. The ones linked above are more current.

I'm not too clear on how linking directly to Google docs works; let me know if it doesn't.

For the things that are just images, rather than print-ready PDFs, remember that spirit board are meant to be 6" by 9" (or 15.25x22.86cm), while cards are 2.5"x3.5". For the BGG stuff, remember to download the highest-possible resolution versions; the medium-res ones print out blurry as poo poo, even if they look okay on-screen.

Kazzah fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Mar 24, 2020

# ? Mar 24, 2020 04:01

the holy poopacy: May 16, 2009; hey! check this out; Fun Shoe

Krazyface posted:

Speaking of quarantine games, let's talk about Spirit Island: Jagged Earth. The game will include ten spirits, plus two more in the second promo pack. So far, ten of these have appeared in various print-and-plays.

Shifting Memory of Ages: this spirit is seemingly designed to start getting and using Major Powers immediately.
This BGG user has put together a collection of the following spirits:

Starlight Seeks Its Form: a new spirit recently fallen to earth; in other words, it's a build-your-own-spirit that's good at acquiring cards and elements, so as to define itself. I strongly recommend you assemble the element tokens as well.

Downpour Drenches the World: a weird spirit that's good at delaying and clogging up the whole map, until its ready for a mega-turn where it just spams out a single ability in like five different spaces.

Vengeance as a Burning Plague: disease everywhere, of course. Plays oddly, in that it benefits from just letting the invaders build up on diseased areas, so as to generate big fear. Also has some abilities that proc based on destroyed presence; I get the impression the designers want players to be more willing to take hits.

Stone's Unyielding Defiance: Vital Strength's cousin; instead of preventing damage, this spirit prevents the negative side-effects of Blight. A good partner for spirits that can use blight offensively, I guess.

Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble: great at causing Strife; has a fun ability where it draws a random card and applies the effects-- whatever they may be-- to a land. Note that you have to choose the land before you start drawing cards; the wording on the board does not make this clear.
Lure of the Deep Wilderness: the anti-Ocean; this spirit turns buildings into explorers, and then drags them into the interior, where they sit and stew in a growing hell of wilds, beasts, and badlands. Quite decent vs France.
This doc contains the following:

Finder of Paths Unseen: the pacifist spirit, whose abilities are all about moving units around and controlling adjacency. Better on the higher playercounts, where range is more important.

Many Minds Move as One: like Sharp Fangs, but actually fun. This spirit lets you build up enormous piles of beasts and deathstack your way around the map. We've actually run out of beast tokens playing this thing.

Volcano Looming High: gameplay is based around building up a ton of presence in a small area, then intentionally destroying it all to annihilate the invaders. The player has to trade between a medium-sized eruption now, and a big eruption later.

This link also has earlier versions of Vengeance and Trickster, but they're both rather OP. The ones linked above are more current.
I'm not too clear on how linking directly to Google docs works; let me know if it doesn't.

For the things that are just images, rather than print-ready PDFs, remember that spirit board are meant to be 6" by 9" (or 15.25x22.86cm), while cards are 2.5"x3.5". For the BGG stuff, remember to download the highest-possible resolution versions; the medium-res ones print out blurry as poo poo, even if they look okay on-screen.

Note that the last batch (Finder/Many Minds/Volcano) are a bit outdated and may have some wonky balance; you can see some older versions of a few other spirits that have more up-to-date sources above. The rest of them should all basically be what's shipping.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 04:29

Elysium: Aug 21, 2003; It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

Anyone got good "over-Skype" games for a medium sized group of people, at least some of who will never create and account/log in/buy something like Tabletop Simulator?

For example, we played Codenames over this website: https://www.horsepaste.com which everyone just loads up and goes. (note, it kind of sucks because it's not the real words and they are too easy)

# ? Mar 24, 2020 14:46

SoftNum: Mar 31, 2011

Elysium posted:

Anyone got good "over-Skype" games for a medium sized group of people, at least some of who will never create and account/log in/buy something like Tabletop Simulator?

For example, we played Codenames over this website: https://www.horsepaste.com which everyone just loads up and goes. (note, it kind of sucks because it's not the real words and they are too easy)

The various jackbox games only require one person to buy them, everyone else just needs to enter a code to play. You need to stream but you can do that in skype or discord or whatever.

It's CaH-like but there's Pretend you're Xyzzy: https://pyx-1.pretendyoure.xyz/zy/

IDK what else doesn't require a free login to play.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 14:52

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

Elysium posted:

Anyone got good "over-Skype" games for a medium sized group of people, at least some of who will never create and account/log in/buy something like Tabletop Simulator?

For example, we played Codenames over this website: https://www.horsepaste.com which everyone just loads up and goes. (note, it kind of sucks because it's not the real words and they are too easy)

The thing is, trying to play games over Skype is way harder than Tabletop Simulator. TTS is not easy but Skype games are really really tough.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:02

Morpheus: Apr 18, 2008; My favourite little monsters

Played March of the Ants and Calimala over TTS. It's not perfect, sometimes things snap to things they shouldn't (march of the ants, especially), but I found it worked really well.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:04

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Just create a Boardgamearena account, they're free. Create an account for them and send them the username and password.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:07

Chill la Chill: Jul 2, 2007; Don't lose your gay

Elysium posted:

Anyone got good "over-Skype" games for a medium sized group of people, at least some of who will never create and account/log in/buy something like Tabletop Simulator?

For example, we played Codenames over this website: https://www.horsepaste.com which everyone just loads up and goes. (note, it kind of sucks because it's not the real words and they are too easy)

My friends and I have been playing Drawful 2 and another Jackbox-like game over Discord. One player will need to stream their screen on discord but everyone else can join and chat. Everyone else just needs to go to jackbox.tv on their phone/tablet/PC browser so it will likely need a full screen but can be done over the phone.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:08

Rad Valtar: May 31, 2011; Someday coach Im going to throw for 6 TDs in the Super Bowl.

Sit your ass down Steve.

Chill la Chill posted:

My friends and I have been playing Drawful 2 and another Jackbox-like game over Discord. One player will need to stream their screen on discord but everyone else can join and chat. Everyone else just needs to go to jackbox.tv on their phone/tablet/PC browser so it will likely need a full screen but can be done over the phone.

I�m pretty sure that Drawful 2 is free on steam right now too.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:12

Aramoro: Jun 1, 2012

Mr. Squishy posted:

Just create a Boardgamearena account, they're free. Create an account for them and send them the username and password.

I would say the Boardgamearena is really struggling with load just, they've gone from 4K concurrent users to over 15K this week. That said i am firing through the game of Terra Mystica this week. Also they've just added Sushi Go which has nice animations etc.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:25

Elysium: Aug 21, 2003; It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

Mr. Squishy posted:

Just create a Boardgamearena account, they're free. Create an account for them and send them the username and password.

Maybe, but I'm just trying to test play a game against myself and they are making it really loving difficult.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:26

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

You can also play ~~Catan~~ "Not Catan" for free at https://colonist.io It's web based, stable, doesn't look bad and up to 4 players is free (beyond that it's freemium). It's mobile friendly so it's super-cross-platform.

It's kind of lovely that they're just making money on someone else's game but Catan Studio's online version is unstable and lovely so whatever

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:28

Lord Of Texas: Dec 26, 2006

Krazyface posted:

Speaking of quarantine games, let's talk about Spirit Island: Jagged Earth.

One of my favorite things about Jagged Earth is the aspects that you can use to modify spirits from the base game + branch and claw. They typically replace innate powers or the spirit's special powers from the bottom left of their board. I'm not sure that I'm allowed to share the specifics of them, but they can be absolutely game-changing, adding even more to this already infinitely-replayable game.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:29

the holy poopacy: May 16, 2009; hey! check this out; Fun Shoe

Lord Of Texas posted:

One of my favorite things about Jagged Earth is the aspects that you can use to modify spirits from the base game + branch and claw. They typically replace innate powers or the spirit's special powers from the bottom left of their board. I'm not sure that I'm allowed to share the specifics of them, but they can be absolutely game-changing, adding even more to this already infinitely-replayable game.

The 2nd PnP dump link has the prototype aspects at the bottom. Again these are pretty out of date but they should generally be playable.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:34

Chill la Chill: Jul 2, 2007; Don't lose your gay

Rad Valtar posted:

I�m pretty sure that Drawful 2 is free on steam right now too.

It is! That's why we started playing it

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:41

Amcoti: Apr 7, 2004; Sing for the flames that will rip through here

I haven't tried it myself but there's also a pretty simple web version of Spyfall

# ? Mar 24, 2020 15:55

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Lord Of Texas posted:

One of my favorite things about Jagged Earth is the aspects that you can use to modify spirits from the base game + branch and claw. They typically replace innate powers or the spirit's special powers from the bottom left of their board. I'm not sure that I'm allowed to share the specifics of them, but they can be absolutely game-changing, adding even more to this already infinitely-replayable game.

Wait, are there Aspects for spirits other than the 4 starter/easy spirits?

# ? Mar 24, 2020 17:20

Eraflure: Oct 12, 2012

Bottom Liner posted:

Spirit Island. See a page or so back for a lot of praise for why it's probably the best coop.

Thanks for the suggestion. Looked this one up and I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy it, but I fear it might be too difficult for them. They'd also need the French version, but its 1st edition has a large amount of typos/mistakes and the 2nd edition is really hard to find at an acceptable price around here.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 17:25

Lord Of Texas: Dec 26, 2006

Countblanc posted:

Wait, are there Aspects for spirits other than the 4 starter/easy spirits?

No, I should have been more clear. Only River, Lightning, Earth, Shadows have aspects in this expansion.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 18:39

Llyranor: Jun 24, 2013

Eraflure posted:

So my mom and sister are really enjoying Pandemic and Dead of Winter and we have a lot of time for board games, and I'd like to capitalize on that. They enjoy coop games but are not against competitive stuff, as long as it isn't much more complicated than DoW. I'd rather avoid heavy euro games, as they think I'm much better than them at that kind of stuff and tend to get discouraged very quickly. On the other hand, I dislike games with a lot of randomness, so it can be hard to strike a balance. Any suggestion for games that would fit the bill and work well with 3 players?

The Crew is a simple coop trick-taking game and has been getting rave reviews.

Quirky Circuits is a really cute light coop programming game.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 20:15

Eraflure: Oct 12, 2012

Llyranor posted:

The Crew is a simple coop trick-taking game and has been getting rave reviews.

Quirky Circuits is a really cute light coop programming game.

The Crew looks like a great choice, thanks! Sadly, Quirky Circuits isn't available in French afaik.

Reading back a bit, I've noticed a lot of talk about Root, which is available to us and sold directly with the riverwood expansion, which would be a pretty good deal. The board, pieces and overall theme look absolutely adorable ( :swoon:

) but I worry this might not be enjoyable for the girls, as they're just not very strong players and I don't want to crush them over and over (another reason why we're mostly playing coop games). Am I justified in worrying about this?

# ? Mar 24, 2020 20:51

Ceebees: Nov 2, 2011; I'm intentionally being as verbose as possible in negotiations for my own amusement.

Eraflure posted:

The Crew looks like a great choice, thanks! Sadly, Quirky Circuits isn't available in French afaik.

Reading back a bit, I've noticed a lot of talk about Root, which is available to us and sold directly with the riverwood expansion, which would be a pretty good deal. The board, pieces and overall theme look absolutely adorable ( ) but I worry this might not be enjoyable for the girls, as they're just not very strong players and I don't want to crush them over and over (another reason why we're mostly playing coop games). Am I justified in worrying about this?

Yes, despite the adorable theme to lure people in, Root has its design history in some fairly mean games. It is the cutest counterinsurgency game.

However, there is also some sort of co-op mode expansion/add-on to work together against a card-driven bot player, a la discount Spirit Island. It's not really how the game is meant to be played and I can't speak to quality, but it exists if you want to have it now and maybe branch into the more cutthroat side of it down the line.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 20:56

Losem: Jun 17, 2003; Slightly Angry Sheep

I've actually used the bot as a third player before rather than coop and I think it worked pretty decently. It also worked as a bit of a game timer. I can't speak for the direct coop mechanic though.

# ? Mar 24, 2020 22:00

Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Our Ketchup game is wrapping up, RG/marketer/marketer/trainer. Here's how things looked last round

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=1&threadid=3917352

# ? Mar 25, 2020 17:51

CaptainRightful: Jan 11, 2005

Eraflure posted:

Reading back a bit, I've noticed a lot of talk about Root, which is available to us and sold directly with the riverwood expansion, which would be a pretty good deal. The board, pieces and overall theme look absolutely adorable ( ) but I worry this might not be enjoyable for the girls, as they're just not very strong players and I don't want to crush them over and over (another reason why we're mostly playing coop games). Am I justified in worrying about this?

As much as I hate to discourage anyone from playing Root, I have to say you are justified in worrying. It's an area control game that requires everyone to be aggressive toward each other. It has a steep learning curve because every faction plays very differently (not the typical asymmetry where the mechanics are the same but each faction gets some sort of bonus). You will spend a lot of time during the first few games looking up rules and thinking certain factions are over or underpowered. It's very possible for a player to make a few bad decisions early on that cripple their game while others race ahead.

If you're willing to deal with all that, it's a rich, rewarding game--but it only gets more cutthroat once everyone understands what everyone else can do.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 05:13

mellifluous: Jun 28, 2007

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion on good and bad mechanisms. I went through the games I own on BGG, and figured out that there are some mechanisms I can tolerate only in short games, such as player elimination (Red7) and push your luck (Biblios, No Thanks!, and Codenames). I only have two games with deck building (Concordia and Century: Spice Road) and three games with dice rolling (The Castles of Burgundy, Raiders of the North Sea, and Istanbul). My most common mechanisms are set collection, hand management, tile placement, card drafting, and area majority.

Any recommendations for pick up and deliver games? I have The Great Heartland Hauling Co. (bought on whim to get an online order to free shipping status, and it's a fun, quick, small-box game), Istanbul, and Import/Export (haven't played this one yet, but I think I remember seeing positive reviews in this thread).

Any recommendations for network/route building games? I have Hansa Teutonica (love it) and Gold West (a good amount of meaningful decisions in a short playtime).

Today I'll be picking up a shipment that includes Argent: The Consortium, which I think the thread was also praising; I'm pretty sure my table is big enough. :ohdear:

The idea of hidden end-game scoring that you can deduce by watching your opponents seems really interesting, and the gameplay looks like it could get pretty mean, which I'm fine with. Any tips for playing this or Import/Export?

# ? Mar 26, 2020 16:43

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

Wasteland Express Delivery Service is good for pick up and deliver. There's another one that I can't think of right now but I'll post when I do. No dudes on a map games?

# ? Mar 26, 2020 17:06

homullus: Mar 27, 2009

mellifluous posted:

Today I'll be picking up a shipment that includes Argent: The Consortium, which I think the thread was also praising; I'm pretty sure my table is big enough. The idea of hidden end-game scoring that you can deduce by watching your opponents seems really interesting, and the gameplay looks like it could get pretty mean, which I'm fine with. Any tips for playing this or Import/Export?

I think it is easy to overvalue certainty about the Argent endgame scoring conditions, because it is costly to find them out directly. I would recommend printing out a list of the possible options for people as a play aid.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 17:12

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Mayveena posted:

Wasteland Express Delivery Service is good for pick up and deliver. There's another one that I can't think of right now but I'll post when I do. No dudes on a map games?

This game deserves to be played on the basis of its packaging alone. I would pay a premium on almost any game that came pre organized like it does.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 17:18

mellifluous: Jun 28, 2007

Mayveena posted:

Wasteland Express Delivery Service is good for pick up and deliver. There's another one that I can't think of right now but I'll post when I do. No dudes on a map games?

I don't think I've ever played a dudes on a map game. I've never really been into fantasy, sci-fi, war games, or role-playing games like D&D, and from a quick search, it looks like most DOAM games have those kinds of themes, which doesn't grab me (not that I really care about theme anyway, as long as the gameplay is fun). I also don't play a lot of long games (say, over two hours), especially because I play with two main groups, each of which has at least one player prone to AP. So, any recommendations in that genre, given that theme doesn't really add to the experience for me and I don't want to be stuck playing for several hours?

Edit: I played Risk a few times as a kid, but I didn't love it.

mellifluous fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Mar 30, 2020

# ? Mar 26, 2020 17:33

Truther Vandross: Jun 17, 2008

My copy of The Crew came in today and I�m excited to get this on the table based on all the praise I�ve heard.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 17:55

Llyranor: Jun 24, 2013

mellifluous posted:

Any recommendations for pick up and deliver games? I have The Great Heartland Hauling Co. (bought on whim to get an online order to free shipping status, and it's a fun, quick, small-box game), Istanbul, and Import/Export (haven't played this one yet, but I think I remember seeing positive reviews in this thread).

Any recommendations for network/route building games? I have Hansa Teutonica (love it) and Gold West (a good amount of meaningful decisions in a short playtime).

Bus is an excellent route building pick up and deliver games. You build bus routes and pick up passengers. You can encroach on other players' routes and steal their passengers too.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 18:24

Safety Biscuits: Oct 21, 2010

Vague details on the SMG kickstarter are up. There's going to be a module for High Frontier, a new version of Pax Renaissance, and a new Pax game about Vikings. Starts in early March.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 18:34

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# ? May 26, 2024 02:28

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

http://gamebrainpod.com/listen-subscribe/ Link to my discussion with GameBrain's Matt Robinson about inclusion and diversity in board games, featuring Maracaibo and the video game Anno 1800. Mentions of Archipelago, La Stanza and 2nd Edition Pax Pamir.

# ? Mar 26, 2020 18:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

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